Just to mark the point. The Constitution grants to the government the power to do certain things if it wants to. It denies the government the power to do certain other things, even if it wants to. What it does in Article 4, Section 4 is lay on the government the obligation to do certain other things, whether it wants to or not. These are sometimes called the obligation clauses, binding all three branches.

The Chief Justice insisted that America doesn’t have “Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.” What we have, he added, “is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.” It’s a fair enough point, though these days even the New York Times identifies judges by the president who appointed them.

That horrified us, by the way. In the current feud, though, Mr. Trump gave no quarter. “Justice Roberts can say what he wants,” the President twittered, “but the 9th Circuit is a complete & total disaster.” The 9th Circuit, Mr. Trump pointed out on Twitter, boasts the highest reversal rate in the country. The sweet irony is that Chief Justice Roberts had something to do with making the President’s point.”

Added: Chief Justice Roberts didn’t publicly criticize Obama for scolding a group of Supreme Court Justices to their faces on national television: